Critical illness diagnoses aren’t the death sentences they were 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. Americans are aging – thus more prone to develop a critical illness – but are surviving longer than ever before thanks to advances in medicine and technology. In fact, most of us know someone who has survived a critical illness and lived a full life afterward. The real question facing Americans today is no longer if they will survive a critical illness, but can they survive a critical illness financially? For the majority, the answer is, unfortunately, no.

Many patients deplete their savings when battling a critical illness because they will survive for years beyond their initial diagnosis. Medical bankruptcy can have a devastating – if not deadly – effect, as patients often delay mortgage payments and even medical care because they can no longer afford it. In 2011, the American Journal of Medicinereported that nearly 62% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were caused by medical expenses, a figure that has risen nearly 14% over a similar study conducted just four years earlier. Even with health care reform promising better coverage for more people, many group clients may not even realize that they have major gaps in the medical coverage.